


Take me out to the ball game

by BethRedus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, inspired by tumblr otp post
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 03:49:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4690952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BethRedus/pseuds/BethRedus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A muggle invention might cause some mayhem at a Quidditch game...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take me out to the ball game

Knock. Knock.  
The curly haired woman didn´t look up.  
Knock. Knock. The door opened.  
,,Hermione?” a familiar voice called out.  
Said witch looked up from her mountains of paperwork covering her desk to find her best friend, practically brother Harry Potter standing in her office doorway.  
,,Harry? Oh sorry, I din´t hear you knock, I was a bit occupied with...”  
,,Don´t worry Mione, I know all to well how you get when you get focused.” he grinned at her.  
,,However I´m not absorbed enough to not notice you using that horrible nickname again!” she growled. ,,I told you I´d hex the next person who called me Mione.” she shuddered. ,,I love Ron dearly, but if he could just get his mouth free of food to say my entire name for once...” she sighed, when she thought about her other other best friend, almost brother, very awkward short-time lover. Honestly, why had they even tried? It had been as strange as if he had started dating Ginny.  
Then she remembered Harry standing in front of her.  
,,Oh, I´m sorry Harry, do you want to sit down? I can offer you some tea too, if you...”  
,,Thanks, Hermione, but I came just to pop over and remind you of the game tomorrow.”  
,,Game?”  
,,Ginny? Harpies? The final of the british league?”  
,,Oh Merlin, I had completely forgotten about that.”  
,,I figured as much. That´s why I´m here to remind you.”  
,,Thank you Harry. You saved me from quite a bit of embarrassment and a bat boogy hex.” she rifled though her calendar. ,,Dam, I have a lunch meeting with the Minister at the Hamilton tomorrow. I will have to apparate to the stadium immediately, without coming to the Burrow first. But I´ll be there, I promise.”  
,,Sure thing Mione.” He smiled at her and bent down to kiss her forehead ,,See you tomorrow.”  
,,Harry!”  
,,Love you!” he called and opened the door.  
She had to laugh. ,,Love you too.” He have one more wave, then disappeared, letting the door fall shut.

Hermione hurried through the streets of Diagon Alley. The lunch meeting had been rather unsuccessful, discussion topics had quickly slid from vampire registration to the upcoming quidditch match and none of the participants had shown any indication of interest in her draft of legislation. She was very frustrated, all her preparation the week before had been for nothing, all her preparation this morning in the bathroom too. Hamilton was a rather posh restaurant, so she had coifed and painted herself accordingly and dressed in a dark green dress and black high-heels which were currently making her life rather hard on the cobblestone.  
After the meeting had been out earlier than she expected (due to lack of any work ethics) and considering the late night preparation of the topic and her early morning preparation of herself, she decided she would at least have time to get a cup of coffee, before she would apparate to the Burrow.  
She made a sharp right to enter Bo´s best coffee, when she ran headfirst into someone.  
Her head collided with a shoulder, she instinctually reached out to keep her balance, other arms caught her before she could fall.  
,,Oh, I´m sorry, I didn´t see y...” then she realized who´s arms exactly she quite literally was laying in. ,,Malfoy?” She stared at him, his face much too close, she could see the lighter flecks in his eyes, as they ran over her from head to toe and back again.  
,,Granger.” He pushed her away from him into an upright position. ,,Of course. Fancy meeting you here.” he drawled, smirking down at her.  
,,Well, Diagon Alley is a public space our kind of folk seems to occupied quite frequently.” she sweetly shot back, smoothing out her dress.  
She and Malfoy had built a somewhat antagonizing relationship over the last few years, apart from their obvious history at school. When Harry had joined the Auror force, no one other than yours truly, the ferret, had been assigned as his partner. After an awkward while, a close encounter with death during patrol and two stiff but sincere apologies later, they got along just fine. Rather well actually. To well for Hermiones taste. She had not been so quick in forgiving Malfoy for a school career in harassment and his part in the war, although they never spoke of it. I she would be honest with herself, she would have to admit that fighting with Malfoy was more on the grounds of his aloof snottiness and snide smirks, his sass and eloquence with which fought their verbal battles and his ability to push her buttons, and as an source of honest entertainment.  
During the time when she was the Auror departments legal representative and counselor she had had enough time and opportunities to spar with him and find him an equal opponent, a compliment she wouldn´t have given him under torture.  
When she had been appointed head of the magical creatures committee in February, their banter had come to an abrupt end as she had been transferred to another floor.  
She actually hadn´t seen him in a few months.  
,,Are you going on a date, or why are you dressed up like this?” his eyes narrowed at her attire.  
Ahh, there it was, that sassy snark she had missed so much. Not.  
For a brief moment she considered lying and saying yes, but he would probably mention it to Harry, who´d know the truth and then the only thing worse than Malfoy would be the topic of the next Sunday brunch at the Burrow: Why does Hermione still not have a significant other?  
Molly was very worried about her status as a single and could spend quite an amount of time discussing it, especially as all her other children (including Harry) had settled down, and her grandchildren weren´t old enough yet.  
,,No, not a date.” Hermione answered truthfully. ,,Lunch with the Minister.”  
,,Tss. One could almost believe the papers that you are a...oh, what was the phrase...a work-obsessed bore with no personal life of any interest?”  
,,Ah yes, Rita Skeeter, she outdone herself that day. Well, I hope to keep it that way. My ego isn´t dependent of how often my name or picture shows up in rainbow colors in one of those rags that bear the title of free press nowadays. I think I´d rather have a private life with no interest to anyone than everyone interested in my private life.” she blandly smiled up at him. ,,Well, nice seeing you again, Mr. Malfoy, but I´m in a hurry and I still need a coffee to get me through the end of this day. Excuse me.”  
With that she gracefully stepped around him and walked up to the coffee shop, without stumbling once. Take that! This small victory was as sweet as her four-packets-of-sugar coffee, that raced through her veins like pure energy.

 

Three minutes later, the to-go cup still half full and hot, Hermione apparated to the Holy Harpies stadium, right into the Harry Potter stadium box. (Yes, Harry had actually bough a box large enough to fit him and all the Weasleys and their entire assorted entourage.) She was surprised when she found it empty, apparently the clan was still getting ready at the Burrow. The on the other hand, getting entire the assortment of little ragamuffins ready to leave the house did take quite some time. No doubt, Bill and Fleur would show up with little Victoire and Luc, George and Angelina with baby Fred, Ron and Romilda (neé Vane) with Hugo (her son from a previous marriage) and Rose (their own daughter), and Harry with Teddy. Of course Molly and Arthur would attend, Andromeda would probably join as well. That crowd was sixteen people alone and Harry, no doubt, had invited some friend or colleague as well.  
The box would be very cozy.  
While she was counting people and seats in her head, the door to the box opened.  
,,Oh hello Hermione.” a dreamy voice said.  
,,Luna?” Harmione stared at her blond friend for a moment, before rushing up and giving her a tight hug. ,,Oh, it´s so good to see you, we haven´t met in ages. Sorry, I was a bit surprised, I didn´t know you were coming too.”  
,,Harry invited us.”  
Us? Then she saw the two men behind Luna. A tall dark-skinned one, handsome as the devil, she remembered him from Hogwarts and a platin blond who...just was the devil.  
,,What are you doing here?!”  
,,Lovely to see you too, Granger. I see the coffee hasn´t improved your temper in any way.” Malfoy drawled. ,,As Luna said, Potter invited us.”  
The other man had followed their exchange with an amused smirk and a dangerous glint in his eyes.  
,,Hermione, you remember Blaise from Hogwarts, don´t you? Blaise Zabini?” Luna said.  
,,Naturally. You were part of the slug club too, if I remember correctly.” Hermione answered, holding out her hand to shake.  
Of course she remembered him. Blaise Zabini, Slitherin, best friend of Draco Malfoy especially in the later years. His mother was famous being beautiful and marrying a half dozen rich men, who all mysteriously died shortly after, leaving her all their money. The two Zabinis had fled to Italy during the war. She hadn´t known he had returned.  
He took her hand but instead of shaking, he turned it to place a gently kiss on it. ,,Lovely to meet you. May I tell you you look simply stunning?”  
And of course, he had been the designated casanova and heartbreaker throughout several years and all the houses.  
,,The slug club, ah yes. I do remember that rather fondly. I first met Luna on his christmas party.”  
He gently smiled down at the blond, who smiled back.  
Hermione´s alarm bells went off. Luna and Blaise?  
She had heard that Neville and Hannah Abbott were engaged, but she hadn´t heard anything about Lunas love life after they had broken up.  
,,Didn´t you go to that party with Cormac McLaggan?”  
,,Dear gods.” Hermione groaned ,,Do not remind me of the sins of my youth!”  
Blaise grinned down at her. ,,He´s a real bastard, isn´t he. Ah well.” he released her hand.  
Then he noticed his friends sour face ,,Draco, what got your panties in a twist?”  
,,Never mind.” he spat, turning to inspect the view of the pitch.  
,,The nargles got to him.” Luna said knowingly.  
,,Well then...about time wasn´t it” Blaise chuckled, winking at the two woman.  
Hermione stared back in confusion.  
Further conflict was prevented by the noisy arrival of the Weasley clan. All sixteen of them. All at once. Greetings were proclaimed, filling the air with chatter and the hugging began. Molly scolded her for getting to thin, Arthur had a few questions about portable felly-tones, Andromeda patted her shoulder, Teddy turned his turquoise hair curly for his Aunt Mione, Romilda was hard to hug as she was huge with her third child, Ron picked her up and swung her in a circle in the already tight space, Fleur gossiped away about her garden project at shell cottage. Hermione was passed around like a bottle, she had to coo at babies and exclaim how much they had grown. Finally she landed in Harry´s arms.  
,,Hey there, Hermione. Thank you for coming. How was the meeting...your´re out earlier?”  
,,Yeah. It didn´t go too well. But never mind. What is he doing here?!” she hissed.  
,,He?”  
,,Uncle Dwaco!” a little voice called out and the turquoise headed five year old streaked past, jumping up into Malfoys arms.  
They watched as his still rather sour expression turned warm and open as he gently smiled at the boy, grinning when he turned his still curly hair from blue to blond to match his.  
,,Ah. Well, I invited him for Teddy. And also because he is my partner. And sort of my friend.”  
,,Can I have that on paper? A signed affirmation of the Potter-Malfoy bromance, as legal proof that the world finally stopped turning.”  
,,Oh Hermione. I know he used to be a major prat and still can be rather prattish but...”  
,,Prattish isn´t a word.”  
,,You know what I mean. But honestly, why can´t you two at least try to get along? You have more in common that you think.”  
She only snorted.  
,,Come on you haven´t spoke to him since you transferred. Couldn´t you make today a new start?”  
Hermione sighed ,,Not likely. This isn´t the first time we are seeing each other today.”  
,,What did he do this time?”  
,,Oh, just quoted Rita Skeeter.”  
O dear. Harry sighed deeply.  
Hermione decided to change the topic ,,Are Luna and Blase dating?”  
,,I´m not quite sure. I met him through Draco, he began coming up and visiting in lunch break. He´s a Unspeakable.”  
Hermione had to giggle ,,Maybe that explains his knowledge of nargels.”  
,,Maybe. Luna is actually rather close with both him and Draco.”  
,,With Malfoy? Wasn´t she a prisoner at the manor for months?”  
,,Apparently that´s where their friendship began.”  
Hermione shook her head. ,,Unbelievable.”  
,,Luna.” Harry simply said.  
,,Is anybody else coming I should know about?”  
,,Just Neville and Hannah.”  
,,Dear me, how are we going to fit this many people into the box? I´m pretty sure there aren´t enough chairs...”  
,,Actually...good that you mention that now. We might want to see how we do the seating before the game begins.” he looked around. ,,This box has fifteen seats...”  
,,And were are...lets see...” she began counting ,,..sixteen adults and six children. That makes twenty-two.”  
,,Well, the kids just have to sit on laps...could you transfigure an extra chair?”  
,,Sure.” she sighed, smiling at her friend. It was so like Harry to invite everyone important to him, without considering if there was even enough room. And he was so proud of his wife, playing professional. He smile fade into wistfulness. She was missing this kind of love in her life. But all of them men she had dated had felt intimidated by her and her accomplishments. And none of them had been her equal.  
,,Earth to Hermione!” George shouted making her jump. ,,Take your seat, it´s starting!”  
She quickly added another chair to the row of seats, sitting down on it. Neville and Hannah arrived.  
,,Err..we seem to be missing one more chair.”  
,,Harry, over here on the end is one more free. Teddy is sitting on it!” George answered.  
,,Teddy!” Harry called ,,Teddy, I´m sorry but you´re a kid. You can´t have a chair on your own. You have to sit on someones lap. On whose lap do you want to sit?”  
,,Gramma Molly?”  
,,I´m sorry dear, I already promised Rose.”  
Teddy pouted, the his face suddenly lit up. ,,Can I sit with Uncle Dwaco?!”  
,,Sure.” Harry was too relieved that it had worked out without a temper tantrum from Teddy to feel put out by the fact that Teddy had chosen Malfoy over him.  
,,Alright, Draco you take Teddys seat.” Harry instructed. ,,Then Fleur, if you slide down one seat, we can squeeze in Neville and Hannah on this end.”  
And that is how she ended up sitting next to Malfoy.

**Author's Note:**

> The rest is coming...and please comment.


End file.
